Last September, Ashley called me and asked if I’d consider shooting her and Jon’s destination wedding in Mexico at the Grand Palladium Resort. I gave it a lot of thought… no, wait. I IMMEDIATELY told her that I’d love to do it! So for the last 11 months, I’ve been looking forward to this wedding. Since my hubby is in Iraq and unable to take a vacation for obvious reasons, I called up my good friend Mandie from Red Gecko Studio in Madison, and asked if she’d accompany me. Luckily she was available and we had a fabulous “girl’s getaway” for the week. So a special thanks to Mandie for joining me on this wonderful wedding. And thanks to Chris at All-Ways Travel Agency in Janesville for planning a smooth trip. What fun!
And now I present to you… Ashley and Jon, in Mexico! (And let me say that I have WAY too many photos to choose for one blog post. Heck, I have way too many good ones for 5 posts! So I’ll try to condense it to two posts.)
One nice thing about having two photographers was that we were able to split up. Mandie joined the guys and I stayed with the girls. I loved Ashley’s dress and flowers:
And it was so fun that all the girls were getting ready together. Back in the states, I often don’t arrive till the bride is nearly done getting ready.
Ceremony… total awesomeness. There were these amazing, gorgeous clouds above us. It was so dramatic for a backdrop! Luckily, the rain held off until after the ceremony. 
Ashley is super attached to their dog, Gizma. In fact, Gizma even had her own seat down in Mexico even though she was still in Wisconsin. It was complete with pictures, and everything. This is actually Ashley missing Gizma right after the ceremony… too cute!
I love this next one:
We had a few moments of light sprinkles while we frantically tried to take some quick family photos. And then… well, and then it started pouring. Buckets. Cats and dogs. (Or gatos and perros if you are in Mexico.) We’re not talking a nice, cooling rain. We’re talking about the kind of rain that is so pouring hard that we wondered how we were going to make it from the wedding gazebo to the shelter of the nearby beach bar. I’d like to give special thanks to the groomsmen and guests who helped shield my cameras (and me!) from the rain by holding trash bags over my head. You guys are troopers. You rock.
This is our “We don’t care that it’s raining because Ashley and Jon just got MARRIED!” photo.
They had a nice dinner on the resort as a precursor to their “real” reception held in Janesville a few weeks after their wedding. This was a nice dinner, complete with a delicious cake, touching speeches, and of course, wedding tequila. Is there such a thing as wedding tequila? Well, there is now. I think I made it up, but if it really exists, someone should please let me know!
See?
Wedding Tequila. Told ya. It looks prettier than it tastes. Not that I would know… it’s what they tell me!
The Wedding rings. They also look prettier than they taste. Once again, not that I would know.
I. LOVE. THIS. SHOT. It took about 50 attempts to capture, but this is their wedding dinner venue with (are you ready for this?) honest-to-goodness lightning in the background. Please keep in mind it was pitch black unless the lightning was striking, so I’m pretty proud of this one!
For the sake of the length of this already-too-long post, I’m going to continue it later with a second post of their formal and Trash the Dress pictures, a few behind-the-scenes, and a few from their reception in Janesville. So check back soon for some of my favorites of this wedding!
Make sure to leave a comment below! Please let me know what you think of the pictures or leave a message for Ashley and Jon! As always, more images can be found on Facebook if you search for “Studio Noveau Photography”.
